Monday, November 7, 2011

A year ago, I made the mistake of getting excited about Jones Street in Greenwich Village. It seemed like a well-kept secret, an untouched one-block oasis of old New York with its two record stores, antique butcher shop, and 30-year-old jazz cafe. I spoke too soon.

It seems we're in the midst of an epidemic, where landlords are jacking up the rents on old-school Italian joints (Vivaldi by way of Pakistan). First we heard that 30-something Rocky's is being booted so the Balaboosta people can take over, then Eater reported the shameful news that 90-year-old Rocco's rent is being hiked so another group of new foodies can expand their mini empire (with $125 tasting menus), and now Vivaldi.

The Village Voice put Steve Croman on their 10 Worst Landlords List of 2008 and outlined his typical tactics: "badgering phone calls, endless lawsuits, and leaning on already hard-pressed tenants." There's a Stop Croman Coalition of his tenants and a "Croman Realty Sucks" blog--but both seem to be defunct since 2009.

Bloomspot

Caffe Vivaldi is one of those places I've been meaning to get to for a long time. They have live music 7 days a week and no cover charge. Monday is Open Mic Night. They serve things like ravioli. They have been featured in films by Woody Allen and Al Pacino.

Here's how the restaurant's owners describe the place: "Our old wooden chairs have a history and are mostly positioned in approximately the same spot where they were when they first seated the likes of Andy Warhol, Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Bette Midler, John Cusack, Rob Reiner, Joseph Brodsky and many others. We have a fireplace and it is usually lit on cold evenings."

"There is a place in New York, that is 1/3 real and 2/3 magical and it is about to disappear... unless we do something now. For 30 years it has nurtured artists writers, poets, but mostly musicians. It has a new landlord and he wants to triple the rent. We cannot fight him; he is too strong. The only way forward is to appeal to his better side and reason with him not to snuff the life out of this cherished haven of hope and encouragement for young artists. Our aim to urge our landlord not to increase our rent to an amount we can never come up with in 685 sq ft of space. We want to be fair to him and want him to be fair to us: All we are asking is that he charge us the fair market rent."

Croman's 9300 Realty already has the Vivaldi space up for rent on its website. They're asking $19,995 a month.

The naturalistic fallacy: mistaking what is for what ought to be. Who cares if the landlord *can* raise the rent - do you take every action that is in your self-interest, and screw whoever else gets run over in the process?

As for the restaurant, I think their plan was to run a beloved restaurant for decades...Do you think property values skyrocketed in the neighborhood over 30 years because an absentee landlord beamed good vibrations telepathically from a Mcmansion in Westchester? Maybe, just maybe, it's because of the tenants in the buildings in the neighborhood, and the individuals they entice to come. I know it might sound shocking, but maybe a small proprietor with good food that attracts celebrity clients would raise property values on a block.....

Another disgusting greedhead ruining something good. Caffe Vivaldi was very kind to me some years ago, allowing a film crew to interview me there, and I've tried to patronize the place as often as possible ever since. This is horrible news, and the landlord needs horsewhipping...as landlords so often do.

wow how many one sided comments. While I dont want to defend the landlord, seems to me the owners of this place have been paying the below market rent for a long time, so either they have not charged YOU enough (or you didnt order enough drinks) or they have enriched themselves quite a bit.

Losing Strider is a real heartbreak, too. Not only was the shop a great place to hide, but Bob was great company while you hid. He is free of the 'tude that curiously afflicts so many record-store proprietors. I will miss him, I will miss his records, and I will miss his walls filled with reminders of jollier times.

I hate to see this cafe close. But landlords make money by charging what the market will allow. If the market allows for a tripling of the rent then so be it. The owners should've figured out how to buy property long ago.

Welcome to Bloomberg's NY. I'm disgusted. It's been obvious for a very long time that we need commercial rent control. It's not possible to do business when you can't plan your future in your location from one lease to another. Profit is not the ONLY value. And there is plenty of that for all. This excessive greed is ruining everything. I miss New York.

"Jeremiah Moss does an excellent job of cataloging all that’s constantly being sacrificed to the god of rising rents." --Hugo Lindgren, New York Times Magazine

"No one takes stock of New York's changes with the same mixture of snark, sorrow, poeticism, and lyric wit as Jeremiah Moss... Even as the changes he's cataloging break our hearts a little, it's that kind of lovely, precise writing that makes Moss's blog essential reading." --Village Voice, Best of NY

“Jeremiah Moss…is the defender of all the undistinguished hunks of masonry that lend the streets their rhythm.” --Justin Davidson, New York Magazine

"One of the most thorough and pugnacious chroniclers of New York’s blandification." --The Atlantic, Citylab